Acetylene-gas generator.



No. 704,664. Patented July l5, I902.

P. B. PERKINS. ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

(Application filed Apr. 25. 1901.)

(No Model.)

.c.' ma HQRRIS PETERS an, PrlOTO-LITHQ. wAmluoTom n llN-TTED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

PAUL B. PERKINS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

ACETYLENE-GAS GENERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 704,664, dated July 15,1902.

Application filed April 25,1901.

T0 (0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL B. PERKINS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAcetylene-Gas Generators; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for generatingacetylene gas, the object in view being to provide an apparatus of thischaracter which is simple, durable, and efficient in construction andoperation and in which provision is made for arresting the generation ofgas by simultaneouslylowering the level of the water in the generatorand elevating the carbid-holder therefrom to insure absolute safetyagainst'overpressure.

With this and other objects'in view, which will appear as the nature ofthe invention is better understood, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts,as will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section ofan acetylene-gas generator constructed in accordance with my invention,and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1represents the Water tank of the apparatus, in which is movably mountedthe bell 2, which serves as the gasholder.

Rising vertically from thebottom of th tank 1 and extending coaxiallywithin the same up to the plane of the top portion of the tank is a tubeor pipe 3, forming, in connection with a tube or pipe 4, depending fromthe top of the hell 2, thegenerating-ehamber of the apparatus, in whichthe ca'rbid-holder 5 is placed. The tube 4 telescopes over the tube 3and is located in line with a central opening 6 in the top of the bell2, which opening is closed by a cap or cover 7. Through this opening thecarbid-holder 5, which con sists of a cage or basket made wholly orpartly Serial No. 57,375. (No model.)

two imperforate limbs or branches 9 and 10,

arranged upon opposite sides of the generating-chamber and connected attheir lower ends bya U-shaped imperforate coupling 11. The limb orbranch 10 is in open communication at its upper end with thegeneratortube 4, so as to receive the gas therefrom, while the otherlimb 9 is'provided'at its upper end with a check-valve 12, which permitsthe gas to flow outwardly therefrom into the bell or holder 2, butprevents its return, so-as to obviate all liability of escape of the gasfrom the holder 2 through the opening 6 when the cap or cover 7 isremoved for the insertion and removal of the carbid-holder 5.

The carbid-holder 5 is suspended Within the generator-tube 3 from a rod13, which works within a-stuffing-box 14 upon the cap 7 and is formedwith a hook 13 at its inner end to engage a bail 13 on the carbid-holderand pivoted at its outer end to an arm of a pivoted bell-crank lever14:, which is fulcrumed at 15 to a post or bracket 16, rising from theholder 2. The other arm of this lever carries a lateral pin 14*, uponwhich is pivoted a gravity-catch 17, having a hooked lip adapted toengage a bracket or projection 18, extending from the side of the holder2 to hold the said arm of the lever down,- and thereby maintain thecarbid-holder 5 suspended above the water in the generator-tube 3 toarrest the generation of gas, as hereinafter described. The gas from theholder 2 is discharged to the exterior through a discharge-pipe 19,which is composed of two branches arranged one upon the interior of thetank and the other upon the exterior thereof, said branches beingconnected at their lower ends by a suitable coupling. The inner branchof this pipe extends up into the holder 2 above the level of the waterin the tank 1, andthe outer branch is provided at its upper end with acoupling for connection with aservice-pipe 20 and an excess-pressurepipe 21 and has :00

arranged therein a relief or safety valve 22, which when an excessamount of gas is prescut in the pipe 19 opens under pressure and allowsthe surplusgas to flow through the pipe 21 to a suitable holder (notshown) provided for the purpose.

Connected to the lower end of the generator-tube 3 is a draw-ofif pipe23, which is provided at its outer end with a discharge spout or nozzle24 and a valve 25, controlling the flow of water and residuumtherethrough. Through this pipe the residuum or waste matter droppingfrom the holder 5 into the water in the tube 3 may be drawn 0%, togetherwith the water in said tube, whenever it may be found necessary ordesirable. A dischargepipe 26 is also in communication with thegenerator-tube 3 and extends to the exterior through the wall of thetank 1. A vertical pipe 27 is coupled to the outer end of this tube 26and extends parallel with the wall of the tank 1. At its upper end thispipe 27 is open for the reception of water to form a water seal 28 andis provided with a series of gage-cocks 29, whereby the level of theWater in the generator-tube 3 may be readily ascertained at any time. Avalve or cook 30 is in communication with the upper end of the tank 1 ator slightly below the primary level of the water therein and is arrangedabove the mouth or open end of the pipe 28, so that water may be drawn01f from said tank and exhaust-pipe 32, which is also connected with thespout or nozzle 24 of the pipe 23 and has arranged therein a valve 33,to which is connected a lever-arm 34. This lever arm is pivoted at itsouter or free end to the lower end of an operating-rod 35, which extendsthrough a guide-opening in the bracket or projection 18 and projectsupwardly to a point above the outer arm of the lever 14. A contactpiece36 is adj ustably mounted upon the upper end of this rod by means of aset-screw 37, and with said contact-piece the end of the outer orlocking arm of the lever 14 is adapted to contact to move said rodupwardly to open the valve 33 to allow the water contained within thegenerator-tube 3 to exhaust when an excess-pressure of gas is generated,as will be hereinafter described.' As the carbidholder 5 is suspendeddirectly from the rod 13, it will of course be readily perceived that- Adraw-01f cock 31 is also.

plied with a charge of carbid and inserted through the opening 6 intothe generatortube 3, the rod 13 connected therewith, and the long arm ofthe lever 14 forced down to bring the catch 17 into engagement with thebracket or projection 18 to hold said carbidholder elevated above thenormal level of the water in the tube 3. The cap 7 is of course firstremoved to permit of the insertion of the basket or holder 5 and thenapplied to close the opening 6 to prevent the escape of gas. The valveor cook 30 is then opened to allow water from the tank 1 to flow intothe pipe 27 and from thence into the pipe 28 and genorator-tube 3 toprovide the supply of water for the generation of gas, and this iscontinued until the water has reached the level in the pipe 27 and tube3 of the line 0a 00, when said valve or cook 30 is closed to shut offthe flow of water from the tank 1. The catch 17 is then released fromengagement with the bracket or projection 18, thereby releasing thelever 14, so as to allow the basket or holder 5 containing the carbid todrop downwardly into the generator-tube 3 to bring the carbid intocontact with the Water contained therein, whereupon the generation ofgas commences. At this point the burners supplied by the service-pipe 20are opened to allow air to discharge from said pipe, and when thedischarge of gas from the burners is first detected said burners and thepetcock 38 are closed. The upward movement of the hell or holder 2 thensignifies the generation of more or less gas,which will continue whilethe supply of carbid in the cage or holder 5 lasts. It for any reasonthe generation of a greater supply of gas than is necessary forconsumption should ensue, the bell or holder 2 will rise to the limit ofits upward movement under the abnormal pressure of the gas therein andthe outer arm of the lever 14' will contact with the contact-piece 36 onthe rod 35, whereby the said arm of thelever will be forced downward andthe inner arm thereof elevated, thereby raising the carbid-holder 5 outof the water. At the same time the movement of the holder 2 will causethe rod to be elevated and to draw then on the lever-arm 34, which inmoving will open the valve 33 and allow the water contained in thegenerator-tube 3 to discharge through the pipes 26, 27, and 32 and thespout or nozzle 24 to the exterior, thereby lowering the level of thewater in the tube 3 to a little below the horizontal line of the valve 33 and stopping the generation of gas. The upward movement of the holder2 and downward movement of the outer arm of the lever 14 also bring thecatch 17 into engagement with the bracket or projection 18 as thecarbid-holder is about to leave the water, in which its lower end isslightly submerged, by means of which the carbid-holder 5 is heldelevated until the catch 17 is disengaged and the apparatus again setinto operation by an attendant.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation, andadvantages of the invention will be readily understood, and it will beseen that the invention provides an apparatus which is com parativelysimple of construction, performs its work in an efficient manner, and isdesigned to secure safety under all conditions of service.

Variations in the form, proportion, and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an acetylene-gas generator,the combination of a water-tank, amovable bellor gasholder, telescoping tubes in the tank and gasholdercooperating to form a generatingchamber, a lever mounted upon the bell,a carbid-holder suspended in the generatingchamber from said lever, acatch carried by the lever, a projection upon the bell adapted to beengaged by said catch, and means whereby upon the elevation of the bellto its extreme limit the lever is operated to raise the carbid-holderabove the level of the waterin the generating chamber and to bring thecatch into engagement with said projection l to lock the lever to holdsaid carbid-holder raised, substantially as described.

2. In an acetylene-gas generator,the combination of a water-tank, abellmovably mounted therein, tubes arranged within the tank and bell andtelescoping to form a generating-chamber, a valved draw-off pipeconnected with the generating-chamber, a feed and discharge pipe alsoconnected with the generator and having a valve therein, an emergencyexhaust-pipe connected with said feed and discharge pipe, means fordrawing water from the tank and supplying it to said feed and dischargepipe, a carbid-holder suspended within the generating-chamber, a leverpivoted to the bell and having a short arm connected with said holder, acatch upon the free end of the locki ng-arm of the lever to engage thebell when the latter moves to the limit of its upward movement, a rodconnected with the valve in said discharge and feed pipe, and acontact-piece on said rod adapted to be engaged by the long arm of thelever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

PAUL B. PERKINS.

Vitnesses:

.T. T. HAYES, H. J. STEWART.

